Warning

[Coralgurl]

Glad to hear all turned out ok, what a scary situation, you must have angels looking out for you!

I was thinking about starting an electrical thread to see how everyone has theirs set up. I have my power bars attached to the legs of my stand, as I make such a mess with water, but I'm out of plug ins and need more equipment.....

Gregzz4 - where did you find those outlets?

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Gregzz4 - where did you find those outlets?

I made them
PM me if you start an electrical thread and I'll link the parts

[kole]

Gregzz4 why do you have so many gfci's? Its my understanding that you would only need one per circuit.

[gregzz4]

When I first started designing the panel, what crossed my mind was how disasterous would it be if something blows a GFCI ? How many hardware pieces would go down all at once ?
I decided to give every piece that contacts water it's own

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

... and 2 Surge suppressors

Oops, I actually have 3

[kole]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

When I first started designing the panel, what crossed my mind was how disasterous would it be if something blows a GFCI ? How many hardware pieces would go down all at once ?
I decided to give every piece that contacts water it's own

Good idea. I have mine running off 2 gfci but now you have me thinking of rewiring. I would like to have a plastic box similar to a panel box that I could mount the electrical inside. I have looked at a lot of storage boxes but can't find at suitable one. I would also like to see arc fault interrupters designed the same way as gfci. By that I mean being able to replace a single outlet with a afci.

[Coralgurl]

I will start one, but no time until tomorrow...

[justincgdick]

You could just replace the standard breaker with an arc fault. It's my opinion that the gfci is the most important piece.

It's really smart to have multiple GFIs. You don't want to lose every piece of gear at once, especially if you are on vacation or whatever. Losing a powerhead isn't the end of the world like your whole system shutting down for a few days.

Greg pointed out on my DIY build that I only had one GFI. I was going to run everything through it, but I don't want to lose the whole system at once. My tank is fresh water, and a lot lower risk, but it's still a risk. I ended up getting six GFIs and pretty much splitting each item to it's own GFI. You can share low risk things like dosers, fans, etc. but your return pump, CL, skimmers, etc. should really have their own.

I also added a few switches so I can easily shut down my CL and return pump if I need to for maintenance without digging around and tracing wires.

It's also handy to use a labeller to label the plugs and matching cables. That way everything has it's place and is easy to unplug/ plug in.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by justincgdick

You could just replace the standard breaker with an arc fault

I also added a few switches so I can easily shut down my CL and return pump if I need to for maintenance without digging around and tracing wires.

It's also handy to use a labeller to label the plugs and matching cables. That way everything has it's place and is easy to unplug/ plug in.

Arc faults have their drawbacks, but are a good addition if used correctly

I use the GFCI test button as as switch if I don't unplug something

I agree and all my stuff is labelled

[kole]

The fires were started with saltwater dripping on the power bars. Will a gfci stop or prevent the fire from starting or would you need a afci? I have no idea if it would or would not. I thought gfci were more for the physical safety of the person working around the tank.